De Beers Group

De Beers Group — the member of the group of Anglo American plc group. De Beers Group is founded in 1888. It specializes in investigation, production and sale of diamonds. The number of employees of De Beers Group (for August, 2020) reaches 20,000 people.

The company conducts mineral extraction in the different countries, including Botswana, Canada, Namibia and South Africa.

History

1954

In order that workers could not take out diamonds in own stomachs and also in cuts on a body, the diamond-mining corporation De Beers entered check of each worker leaving the mine, a flyuoroskopiya method — a radiological research at which the image of an object is received on the shining screen.

The radiologist checks the miner's stomach for availability of the swallowed diamonds, Kimberley, the Republic of South Africa, 1954.

In those days the danger of X-rays was not completely studied yet therefore extent of radiation protection was minimum both for workers, and for specialists. In certain cases survey of one person could take up to 75 minutes.

Similar checks could not stop completely attempt of thefts of gemstones by miners therefore after X-ray they were subjected to careful examination. According to the documented cases of capture of diamond "pilferers" in Botswanian mines, in 36% of cases workers hid them in an anus, in 30% — between buttocks, in 14% — in socks and hair (it is not clear why these categories decided to integrate in one), in 5% — in a mouth, in 2% — under a scrotum, in 2% — in outerwear, in 2% — in underwear, in 9% of cases other methods were used.

1975: The end of monopoly because of the competition to the USSR, Canada and Australia

The large-scale long-term advertizing campaign of De Beers and their jewelry partners turned diamonds into the character of romanticism and the best friends of girls, and pomolvochny rings with stones at the cost of two monthly salaries became an element of the western culture. The absolute monopoly of De Beers lasted till 1970th years until in the market there were new large players from the USSR, Canada and Australia, and apartheid mode in the Republic of South Africa did not begin to hand over gradually.

Contrary to the imposed opinion, diamonds are not so rare and valuable. To support the high prices extracting corporations sell stones small batches from the saved-up stocks. One of the most famous representatives of the American exposing journalism Edward Jay Epstein in the investigation proved that the market is oversaturated by gemstones for a long time, and the prices of them are overstated many times, and even in tens of times. Favorable conditions for such deal were provided in the 1940th.